Before I start this review, let me just say that I’m a huge fan of the Toaru series, I absolutely love the characters, all of them being extremely interesting and not typical stereotypes. The story is interesting and the universe is so huge that I just want to read up everything about it. Although that being said, I felt that Toaru Majutsu no Index: Endymion no Kiseki was a pretty huge disappointment for me, and it pains me to give it only a 7/10. It lacked the charm of both the Railgun and Index series. Why? Just read on to find out.
Story (7/10):
The story for the movie is pretty weak. That is because the pacing of the movie was horrendous, emphasizing too much on the non-important parts (introduction) and rushed through the important plot points. Unless you have not read the summary, the story is about a mysterious Level 0 girl, Meigo Arisa, who seems to have the voice of miracles (kiseki), and she would tear up the balance between the magic and science sides. This concept is well done, since in every episode of Index’s ending, Touma always says, “When science and magic cross paths”. Yes, finally we see something that will truly affect this balance, and the consequences that follow because of that. The battles with the science and magic sides were truly extraordinary, however, the antagonist’s plan to use Meigo Arisa for her own needs were not well developed enough. Apparently the antagonist was the one who caused the Orion plane’s crash, which fuels the other character’s rage (I shall not mention the name to avoid spoilers) but yet no explanation was made as to why she caused the plane crash. The viewers do not actually feel threatened at all since the antagonist’s plans were not well explained and not justified. It was hard to completely understand what the antagonist was exactly going with her plan. Worst of all, in the last part of the movie, the directors seem to just randomly throw in characters from the Toaru universe; Accelerator, Last Order, MISAKA Clones for no rhyme or reason, as if the only purpose was for fanservice (Though I was pleased, ha.). In addition, the parts where accelerator appeared were just so anticlimactic. Lastly, the ending was like just, wat. Trust me, you’ll have the same reaction. In other words, the story was filled with plot holes that were left unexplained.
Characters (7/10):
The characters from the Toaru universe return, and they remain more or less the same. We have Mikoto and her gang, as well as Touma and Index. Their personalities are the same and their actions believable, and as fans you will not be disappointed. Otherwise, the points for characters will be so much lower.
The development of the new characters, mainly Meigo Arisa, Shutaura Sequenzia and the antagonist (I shall not name her to avoid spoilers) is not as well done.
Personally, I felt that out of the new characters, Meigo’s character development was the best, as we can truly see her personality, her motives and how she changes through the movie, with the help of Touma and Index.
Shutaura however, was badly developed. Her motives were not clear and her actions were not as justifiable as the directors make it to be. Moreover, she claims that she can't hear music, and even that wasn't well explained.
And lastly, the antagonist. Her development was the absolute worst, all we got were at most 2 seconds of development. The directors were making her character such that we would be sympathetic of her, however, with little backstory given for her character, her actions were hard to be justified and thus there was almost little threat posed by her.
Art (10/10):
This being the movie, I have to say that the art looks absolutely gorgeous. Everything from the endymion, Meigo’s concert to Mikoto’s electricity, looks crisp, beautiful and detailed.
Sound (10/10):
Every action scene is accompanied with awesome soundtrack as well as fitting sound effects that sound epic. In addition, the songs performed with Sachika Misawa as Meigo Arisa were all very catchy and I think its something that I will add to my collection. They really seemed to be miraculous songs.
Enjoyment (9/10):
Though the story and character development was not that well done, I am a Toaru fan and hence I still thoroughly enjoyed this movie.
Overall (7/10)
